North Korea promises to 'pulverise' United States bases

North Korea Displays New Missile On 150th Birth Anniversary of Kim Sung 2

Eleena Tovar
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21 Abril, 2017, 00:45

China's Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official paper, said North Korea must have felt the shockwave from the 11-ton "mother of all bombs" dropped by USA forces on ISIS-linked fighters in Afghanistan on Thursday. Currently, the US government sources say the administration is focusing on pressuring the North. At the other end of the spectrum, they looked at the notion of accepting North Korea as a nuclear state.

The administration's emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's dominant trade and military partner. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity.

Celebrations are being held at the time when the situation on the Korean peninsula has become tense again.

Kim Jong Un's army took part in a massive parade to mark North Korea's Day of the Sun as tensions between the isolated country and the USA continue to escalate.

It has not previously held a nuclear test in the month of April. North Korea is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs and an impressive array of short- and medium-range missiles.

"If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare", he said. Its research suggested a range between 10 and 16 such weapons two years earlier.

But as speculation mounts that Pyongyang is poised for a "big event", a USA aircraft carrier group is steaming towards the region.

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit Seoul, South Korea, today to meet with troops and kick off a tour of Asia.

He said the North may have a handful of plutonium-based warheads it can mount on medium-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching South Korea and Japan.

The extended-range Scud missile in that earlier launch suffered an in-flight failure and fell into the sea off North Korea's east coast, according to USA imagery and assessments. South Korea's Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korea relations, said Kim Won-hong might have completed his term at the prison camp and been reinstated, though he was absent during a parliamentary meeting in Pyongyang on Tuesday. It can not lead to an arms control agreement or reduction of the North's atomic arsenal that would imply American acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear power.

China is North Korea's lone major ally but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported United Nations sanctions. They pointed to a recent editorial in a state-run Chinese newspaper advocating tighter restrictions on selling oil to North Korea.

China has also stepped up economic pressure on North Korea.

Kim Jong Un, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy.

The Associated Press furthers notes that in a statement Friday, North Korea's military drew parallels to past USA actions against Iraq and Libya.

Before the failed launch, North Korea's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol had told the AP his country is prepared to wage war if that is what Trump desires.

Pyongyang has also expressed anger over the ongoing annual spring military exercises the USA holds with South Korea, which it considers a rehearsal for invasion. One could say that the immediate reason that tensions are so high is the reappearance of the USS Carl Vinson, an American aircraft carrier, and the provocative messages about "a preemptive strike on North Korea" and "military options" by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly issued ambiguous threats that if Beijing isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the USA might take the matter into its own hands.

A North Korean missile exploded on launch a day after a massive military parade.

The North's leader said in his New Year's message that the country has entered the final stage of preparing to launch an ICBM capable of hitting the US mainland.